Helium
by Lunar Lovegood
Summary: Drabble-y Travis/Lily, where Travis takes a trip down memory lane. Also known as: I overdo flashback techniques and angst a bit.


**HELIUM**

ATTN: y helo thar. I think I wrote this back in 2006 or something. I found it tonight while going through my random junk folders and thought to myself "Gee Lunar, your writing sucks, but it's a story and you sure need more of those on your Fanfiction account." It's really short, and I'm 99 sure I intended to make something epic out of it. Instead you all get a drabble of strangeness. So yea. In conclusion, I miss RFR. :(

* * *

_They were drunk again and together. He lay sprawled out on the couch, holding a bottle. She was crumpled on the floor, staring at the static ahead. This was the calm before the storm; where they would either erupt into a huge fight, sob helplessly on each other's shoulders, or laugh at nothing._

_She spoke first, her words falling into each other, "I never liked you."_

_He looked down to where she was, his eyelids drooping as he tried to piece her words together in his foggy mind. "Is that so?" his words also ran together, the product of too much vodka._

_"Oh yea. I faked the whole thing. Attraction? Nah. I could kiss you right now and not feel anything." _

_It seemed like a challenge, almost. He was never one to back down from challenges. "Is that so?' He was a rather repetitive drunk._

_She didn't seem to notice. "Not a thing. I'd probably be really grossed out about it too. You have germs after all." She stood up and leaned over him._

_A smirk formed on his face. "Right back at'cha" he cocked his fingers, making a gun sign. "You wouldn't do a thing for me." he muttered as she draped herself on top of him. _

_"Is that so?" she mimicked, her face drawing closer. "Then you'd have no problems with this." Her mouth covered his as they played the game of lovers._

_When he finally pulled away his answer was a whispered "Nothing."_

_They were both terrible liars._

-

Of course that wasn't how it started, or how it finished. It was somewhere in the middle, the same part where he told her he was leaving.

"Where are you going?"

"Around. With my dad. Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Australia." All over the place.

"How long will you be gone for?"

"I don't know."

"Your friends will miss you."

_I'll miss you._

A shrug.

He wasn't always this apathetic, and she wasn't always this destructive. Unfortunately there was that cliched, unwritten rule of high school dicatating that whatever personality one had before they stepped into the large halls was to be broken down and rebuilt into something. Whatever that something was it was no doubt the cause of many insignificant debacles. Such is the case here.

In grade 9 however, when they first met, it was very subtle. Like when Ray began to date Grace, and she wasn't able to tell him how she felt. Or when Bridget left for Hong Kong, leaving him alone with the cracks in his heart. Having the radio station always helped, and there was always the comfort they sought in each other.

-

_They both crouched down on the pavement. She idly ran her hand through the objects in the straw basket. A few old postcards, a grey t-shirt, and the clunky compass ring Ray once bought her. She picked it up and slipped it on her finger, but he noticed. She removed it and put it back in, still feeling the warmth around the finger it enclosed. They both smiled at each other, and tied the colourful ribbons onto the handle. _

_After the basket became a smudge in the sky, she spoke, "I just wonder if I'll ever meet a guy who likes me for me._

_He turned to her, smiling, "Oh I'm sure you'll do fine. You got this whole sexy free-spirited thing going on."_

_"No, you are a total catch. So suave and so smart." Hasn't this happened already?_

_"And you're a musician. I mean that is just the coolest."_

_"Yea and no, your intensity, girls love that._

_"And besides you are just so beautiful-"_

_His voice cut off as her lips covered his. The basket was long gone now. _

-

... And so was that memory. Groaning, he rolled over. The sun was rising where he was. Briefly he wondered where she was; if the sun was setting if she was sleeping. If she was alone. Before he could shake away the fuzzy curiosity, his mind swam with more. More memories, words, gestures.

-

_They were walking together as the leaves fell._

_She was curled up on his bed giggling at the television._

_"I love you, Travis."_

_Her hands brushed up against his face._

* * *

Yes, I know. I'm afraid too. / This is why I upload things in 3-5 year increments.


End file.
